Daily Inspiration: Meet Tracy Drakeford-Pierce

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tracy Drakeford-Pierce.

Hi Tracy, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I am a child of God, a mother, a wife, a sister, and a daughter & so much more. I carry many roles as most people do.

But for this article we will start here…how did I become a realtor?!?

For over 20 years I was an Engineer in the Telecom Industry. After being seperated from a large company in RTP, I decided to pursue my real estate license. & I am happy that I did. But this decision to sell real estate changed me. It changed my faith in God. Keep reading to see why.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?

In 2017, I was at a crossroads. I had recently been separated from my corporate job and I was not sure what my next step should be. Should I continue in corporate America? or something else? If something else, what? In response to that “what”, I decided to take a real estate class to keep my mind focused on my forward step and not a back step into what was familiar. That was really my only reason at this point. I signed up for my Pre-licensing course with Fonville Morrisey in Durham and it’s been full press ever since!

Not all that glitters is gold…

In my first year of Real Estate, I closed 10 transactions. In my mind, this was wonderful for a person who considered herself an introvert and not ‘salesey’ at all. However, my year 2 of real estate, I only closed three transactions. Yikes!! What happened, you asked? As I reflect, my second year was my mental transition year. I returned to corporate America in 2019 and worked two floors above my real estate office. This was a blessing! The logic at the time was that I could do both. Both of my gigs are in the same office building. Surely, I can pull this off. My goodness… What a mistake! For other realtors that can be successful as dual agents, my hat is off to you! However, that did not work for me. I can only focus on one career at a time.

Corporate America, this is my final goodbye.

At the top of 2020, I gave my notice to my 9-5 gig AND my pipeline was filled with potential leads that should mean a great year ahead for real estate. Until March 2020 hit and Covid-19 shut down America! No showings were allowed for listings in Durham County & very limited access for Wake County too. It turned the real estate business on its head. And, I had just left my 9-5 “safe” gig to do real estate full time. Could this really be happening? It was. In March 2020, I converted my first ‘For Sale By Owner’ listing. How will I sell it?

There are no showings allowed during Covid. Fear sat in. I have a responsibility to my clients who trust me to sell their homes. But how in a pandemic?

The Promise…

In December 2019, I prayed about leaving my network engineering job that was in the same building as my real estate office. God dropped in my spirit that my gift is to guide people to change their life via homeownership. I have a promise that HE is with me and HE will keep me. When Covid hit, I was unsure that I could sell the ‘For Sale By Owner’ home I had converted. I enlisted some insight from my real estate coach. She suggested that I do a video to highlight the amenities of the community for that listing. I set my intentions to do this after our session.

Let’s get to Work…

After meeting with my Real Estate Coach, I decided to move forward with making a video for my listing in Durham. My husband and I were on the way to record the video and it poured down raining. Once we arrived, the rain had slacked off. We stepped out of the car to do the recording by the pool house and the tennis courts. The goal is to highlight the amenities of the neighborhood on the video. As I looked up into the cloudy sky, I saw the most beautiful rainbow! Wow, all the colors were so vibrant. This is a reminder of the Promise. Three days after we recorded & posted this video, that listing went under contract! I kid you not! I doubled down and offered more virtual options to post on social media.

-Virtual Open Houses
– Virtual Home Buying Seminars
-Virtual Consultations
– 2020 changed the Real Estate landscape on how we do business. I also did a video series at the beginning of 2021 titled ‘Fall in love with the Bull’ for new listings offered by my firm for the city of Durham. It received a very positive response.

The attendees for my Virtual Home Buying Seminars doubled that of the in-person classes pre-pandemic. Also, the views for my Virtual Open House social media post tripled. And for now, I still only offer Virtual Consultations for new clients. In 2020, that was my break-out year. It was my highest-grossing year to that point.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am blessed to be in a position to change people’s lives through homeownership. I have aligned myself with a firm, Keller Williams preferred Realty. The firm’s mission statement starts with ‘God First, then Family & then Business.’ It matches my personal philosophy. I am currently working to branch off into investments & eventually expand into a real estate team. I truly believe that owning real estate is truly a pathway to wealth. Through real estate, we can shrink the wealth gap for under served communities!

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I grew up in Littleton, NC. It is a small town in Halifax County. I was smart & quiet and tough.

I lived with my Mom & sister. For the first ten years of my life, we lived in a trailer beside my Grandparents.

At age 10, my Mom built a house less than a mile from my Grandparents. I was blessed to have unlimited access to my Grandparents as a child.

I had many relatives who lived on the same street as I did. It was easy to go see my Aunts & cousins after school. Many times a child’s first friend is their cousin.

The importance of family cannot be underestimated.

These were good times!

Contact Info:

• Email: tdrakeford@kw.com
• Website: tdrakeford.kw.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drakefordpierce

Image Credits
Chuck Ruffin